Ashford

Ashford district sits in central-southern Kent, centered on the town of Ashford where the River Great Stour runs through the urban area. The town developed around a railway junction and now hosts Ashford International station on the high-speed line to London; the station area includes the Designer Outlet and links by the M20 to the rest of the county. The borough combines town suburbs, market centres and industrial parks with ribbons of agricultural land that extend across the plain south of the North Downs.

Outside Ashford, the district contains a network of villages and market towns such as Tenterden and Wye, and a mix of arable fields, orchards and hop gardens. Tenterden is served by the preserved Kent and East Sussex Railway, which operates steam and heritage services from the station alongside the town’s high street. The district council manages local planning, services and conservation of listed buildings and rural lanes, while long-established farm boundaries and parish churches mark the older settlement pattern across the borough.